Apparatus for automatically opening and closing hatch covers



Nov. 4, 1969 J. L. CARNEY, JR., ET AL 3,476,042

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING HATCH COVERS 6Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 16, 1967 INVENTORS.

E 6 n w NW .1 C M ,.D R A m m JR ATTORNEY Nov. 4, 1969 CARNEY, R ET ALAPPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING HATCH COVERS Filed May16, 1967 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING ANDCLOSING HATCH COVERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 16, 196" Nov. 4, 1969 J.L. CA'RNEY, JR, ET AL 3,476,042

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING HATCH COVERS Filed May16, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 4, 1969 J. L. CARNEY, JR.. ET ALAPPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING HATCH COVERS 6Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 16, 196'.

N QE

Mm ll n: f E m f .1. L. CARNEY, JR ET AL 3,476,042

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENING AND CLOSING HATCH COVERS 196'? 6Sheets-Sheet 6 Nov. 4, 1969 Filed Ma 16.

United States Patent "ice 3,476,042 APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPENINGAND CLOSING HATCH COVERS John L. Carney, Jr., and Richard H. Dugge, St.Louis, Mo., assignors to ACF Industries, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., acorporation of New Jersey Filed May 16, 1967, Ser. No. 638,843 Int. Cl.B61d 17/16, 39/00 US. Cl. 105-377 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Railroad cars of some types, such as coveredhopper cars, have openings or hatches through which they are loaded. Thehatches are provided with covers, the opening and closing of which mayrequire a considerable amount of work and time. Means for automaticallyopening and closing hatch covers are shown in Patent 3,251,487 to P. F.Giesking. The present invention has many important advantages over priorapparatus. First, it is capable of opening very large hatches, withoutpossible damage to the cover or trackside rail. The danger of anaccidentally open hatch cover is practically obviated. The batch coveris held closed by a powered motor, and if a hatch cover is openedaccidentally or manually, it is closed automatically and immediately bythe motor. These features are important because an open hatch cover maybe dangerous to the lading and also to personnel and the car itself.From an operational standpoint, automatic opening and closing ofcontinuous hatch covers permit a train of cars to be loaded while theymove slowly past a chute or loading point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a hatch cover orcovers for a closed railroad car and particularly to mechanism foropening and closing a hatch cover automatically. The mechanism includesa compressed air motor, in the form of a cylinder and a piston connectedto the cover, and controlled by a valve to keep the cover closed. Apivoted or shiftable bar is mounted on the roof of the car and extendsbeyond the sides of the car to engage a trackside rail which causes thebar to turn or slide and thereby move a valve operator. The valve, then,is operated to actuate the motor to its opposite position and thus openthe hatch cover. The valve and motor remain in their operated positionas long as the bar engages the trackside rail, and thereafter the valveand motor shift back to their normal positions, closing the hatch coverand positively holding it closed. The valve may control a plurality ofmotors for operating a plurality of covers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing three railway cars in plan with a rub railto actuate the center car by contact with a roller on the actuatinglever carried on the car.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan of one car showing a 3,476,042 PatentedNov. 4, 1969 single hatch cover, the cylinder and actuating mechanism inplan.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragment of FIG. 2 showing the actuatingmechanism.

FIG. 4 is a section taken generally along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section of the cylinder to open the hatch coverwith the hatch cover in closed position.

FIG. 6 is a section similar to FIG. 5 with the hatch cover in openposition.

FIG. 7 is a partial side elevation of the means for mounting the hatchcover for pivotal movement.

FIG. 8 is a schematic of an air system.

FIG. 9 is a top plan of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows three cars 10, 11,12 of a train, the first two cars having a single continuous hatch 14,which is closed in car 10, and has an open cover 16 in car 11. Car 12has two elongated hatches with suitable covers 18, 20. The covers areshown connected by a plurality of straps 22 or 24 to torque tubes 26 or28. Each car has a valve actuating assembly 30 on the roof thereof,which is shown in simplified schematic form in FIGURE 1. The actuatingassembly 30 extends beyond the sides of the car to engage a tracksiderail 32 which may be about as long as two or more cars and is located atthe loading site. It may be assumed that the loading point is near themidpoint of rail 32. It is evident that other arrangements of tracksiderails and actuating assemblies may be used.

Referring particularly to FIGURES 3 and 4, the hatch 14- is in themiddle of a curved roof 40. Actuating assembly 30 includes bars 41 and42 connected by plates 43, 44 to a center bar 46. The latter is fastenedto a U-shaped bar 48 connected by tensioned springs 43, 50 to brackets51, 52 on the roof. The roof 40 has pockets 53, 54 into which bars 41and 42 partly extend, and the outer ends of these bars are provided withrollers 55, 56 for engaging the trackside rail 32. Brackets 57, 58 arewelded to plates 59, 60 and pivotally support links 61, 62, which attheir other end are pivotally connected to bars 41 and 42. Link 62 isconnected to a double sided cam 64 having a camming surface 66 engaginga roller 68 on an operator of a valve 70. Additional supporting brackets72, 74 are provided for links 61, 62 and for cam 64 and plate 76.

Hatch cover 16 may have any suitable construction, as indicated inFIGURES 1, 2, 5 and 6. It may be Supported by bearings for torque tube26 disposed therealong, as required. A spur gear is fixed to tube 26 andis coupled to a gear sector 82 in a housing 84. Gear 82 is pivoted onshaft 86 and has an arm 88 pivotally connected to piston rod 90 of airmotor 92. The latter is itself pivotally mounted on bracket 94, so thatmoving piston rod 90 opens and closes the hatch.

The pneumatic circuit of the motor is shown in FIG- URE 8. The trainline supplies compressed air through globe valve 102 to a suitablereservoir 104. The reservoir is connected to the input of four-way valve70. The valve has an exhaust port and two ports connected on oppositesides of piston 106 to cylinder portions marked CYL. 1 and CYL. 2. Valve70 is spring loaded and is arranged so that air pressure is maintainedon the side of the cylinder which keeeps the hatch cover in a closedposition, while the other side of the motor cylinder is connected to thevalve exhaust port, and thus vented to the atmosphere.

FIGURES 9 and 10 shows an alternative valve actuator comprising a lever110 having a fulcrum at 112 and spring wipers 113, 114. Lever 110 isanchored to the car by return spring 116 and is provided with guides117, 118 and stops 119, 120. Valve 122, similar to valve 70, ispositioned to be operated by lever 110 when one of the wipers 113 or 114engages rub rail 32 and causes lever 110 to turn. Valve 122, which isspring loaded then controls motor 92, as previously described inconnection with FIGURE 8. It is evident that valve 122, like valve 70,may also be operated manually, as may be desired for inspection or otherpurposes.

From the above description and the drawings, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art that the apparatus operates to open and close a hatchautomatically for continuous loading. Normally the spring biased valvemaintains pressure in the side of the motor cylinder which holds thepiston 106 in the position which keeps the hatch closed. When a carreaches the loading site, trackside rail 32 moves valve actuator 30 or110 and causes air valve 70 or 122 to reverse motor 92 and open thehatch cover. As the air valve is spring loaded, pressure must bemaintained on the valve actuator 30 or lever 110 to keep the hatch open.Hence, when the rub rail 32 is passed the hatch is closed. Accidentalbumping of the valve operating mechanism will not cause the hatch toopen. Four way air valves are well known and a suitable example isRivett Model 2310 made by the Rivett Lathe & Grinder, Inc. of Boston,Mass. It will be evident that proper operation will still be obtained ifone or more of cars is turned around. If the car has several hatchcovers, as does car 12 in FIG. 1, the several motors are connectedidentically in parallel to air valve 70 in FIG. 8.

Since variations and modifications of the disclosed embodiments arewithin the purview of the invention, the disclosure should only beconsidered illustrative of the invention, the scope of which is definedin the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A railroad car having a body and a roof thereon and a hinged hatchcover on said roof; a motor on said car, including an air cylinderconnected to said hatch cover for opening and closing said cover; valvemeans for said air cylinder mounted on said car for normally causingsaid motor to urge said hatch cover to its closed position; valvecontrol means, including a movable actuating member extendingtransversely beyond the perimeter of the body of the car on both sidesthereof; and a stationary trackside rail for engaging said actuatingmember for actuating said valve means to operate said motor to open saidcover and hold it open only while the actuating member engages saidrail.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, including a plurality of like hatch covers;a motor for each hatch cover connected to said valve means for openingor closing all said hatch covers together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,665,483 4/1928 Taylor 105-3412,899,912 8/1959 Janeczko 105-377 3,194,183 7/1965 Schwartz et a1.105-377 3,235,104 2/1966 Morawski et al 214-42 3,374,908 3/1968 Giesking214-42 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner R. A. BERTSCH, AssistantExaminer

